Gotham Recap ‘Under the Knife’: My Monster Side

In the latest Gotham recap, Gordon gets closer to identifying ‘The Ogre’ while the serial killer quietly stalks someone close to him…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

Over the course of the first season of ‘Gotham’ there has been one thing made abundantly clear about this series — the show is at its strongest when it focuses on one or two stories instead of being spread thing by six or seven sporadically placed throughout a single episode. When ‘Gotham’ has honed in on the mob war or a particularly riveting case where Gordon actually gets to do some detective work, the show is at its strongest.

The introduction of a new series killed known as ‘The Ogre’ that was already set up to be a multi-episode arc was a great way to tease that ‘Gotham’ would be focusing on a single character for at least a few weeks. Admittedly, the idea was strong but the first episode just didn’t have the punch necessary to really get the point across and the muddied mess that has been ‘Gotham’ in its weakest episodes seemed to shine through.

Thankfully the newest episode titled ‘Under the Knife’ brought things back to a razor’s edge and while there were several stories that got placed in this hour of television, the real crux of the suspense and action boiled down to Gordon’s hunt for The Ogre and the killer’s desire to keep him off the case. The secondary stories felt secondary and even Oswald Cobblepot didn’t steal the show (for once) so it was really Gordon’s chance to take over.

And he did a fantastic job of it.

With that said, let’s recap this week’s episode of ‘Gotham’ titled ‘Under the Knife’.

Nip/Tuck

Following a rather harrowing warning from other cops who have investigated The Ogre, Jim opens this week’s episode of ‘Gotham’ worried about his lady love Leslie Thompkins, fearful that the serial killer will target her next. Thankfully, Leslie is not only ok but happy to take care of herself as she nearly takes off Jim’s head when he creeps into her apartment and gets mistaken as a burglar.

The moment of fret and caring ends up with Jim finally saying the big three to Leslie — ‘I love you’ — but that only intensifies the need for him to settle this case and put The Ogre away before he even gets the chance to take a stab (literally) at the woman he loves.

Jim’s investigation leads him to the cop who originally took the case surrounding The Ogre because he’s not only the first person to look into the murders, but this detective also felt the brunt of the killer’s retaliation. The Ogre actually killed the cop’s wife and that sent a powerful message to anybody else who dared to look into him. Jim has another theory — the cop got too close to discovering his true identity so it led him to seek vengeance.

Jim finds out that the first victim of The Ogre was a young nurse who worked at a private clinic where bouts of extreme plastic surgery take place. It seems the nurse was hired after a suggestion from a client. The client’s name is finally revealed after a warrant orders the clinic to give up the goods and it turns out the person who suggested her for the job is woman with the last name Van Groot, a very prominent and powerful family in Gotham City.

When Gordon and Bullock arrive at the Van Groot estate they find the butler trying to hang himself and Mrs. Van Groot dead in her bed but it’s clear she’s been decomposing for about a decade.

Gordon and Bullock finally get their answers when they interrogate the butler — it seems his son, who was born looking like he was the first cousin to The Elephant Man was toyed with for his entire life by Mrs. Van Groot that she was his mother. When she finally let him in on the joke that it wasn’t true, his son Jason couldn’t accept it and in a fit of rage he ended up killing her. Since that time, his father has been keeping her death under wraps while Jason quietly siphons away her money to provide a lavish lifestyle for himself.

One of those upgrades was a new face courtesy of the clinic where he first encountered the nurse he murdered. The only problem is the clinic doesn’t have any post surgery pictures and Jason is not using the name Van Groot or his father’s name so they don’t have any way to track him.

So Jim, with Leslie’s blessing, decides to go on television and personally challenge The Ogre by saying that he’s going to catch him by hook or by crook and he encourages the people of Gotham to help aid him in his quest to put this serial killer in jail or in the ground. Meanwhile, The Ogre (after a failed attempt to run down Gordon and Bullock earlier in the episode) starts plotting for a way to get back at Jim by going after a lady in his life.

But it’s not Leslie Thompkins…

The Keys

Bruce calls on Selina to help continue his investigation into the information Reggie stole from his house to hand over to Mr. Bunderslaw, a member of the Wayne Foundation board of directors. Bruce also berates Selina over her decision to kill Reggie. She accuses him (more or less) of being a pussy, but he says that’s a line no one should cross and he’ll never do that no matter the consequences. Last week was a brief glimpse into the moral code Bruce starts to build as he gets closer and closer to becoming Batman one day — but this was as blunt as possible to get the point across. Bruce isn’t a killer now and he won’t be a killer later in life either.

Selina on the other hand says she has no problem killing somebody if necessary and she has no problem doing it again. Catwoman’s claws are beginning to sharpen.

Selina eventually agrees to help Bruce track down the information that Bunderslaw had stolen so they plot to go to the Wayne Foundation charity event that night, run into him so they can steal keys to a safe he has in the Wayne building. According to Bruce all of the executives have them so this is the perfect way to see what he’s been up to.

After a ‘Pretty Woman’ dress fitting session, Selina and Bruce go to the party, distract Bunderslaw and get an impression of his keys so they can break into the safe.

Nothing major happening between these two this week outside of the speech about never killing anyone, but it’s a good setup for what Bruce and Selina might find in these final two episodes that will certainly affect the future of Wayne Enterprises.

Riddle Man

One of the more tedious story lines this season on ‘Gotham’ has involved Edward Nygma’s constant flirtations/borderline stalking of office worker Miss Kringle and her various boyfriends throughout the series. The latest of which — Officer Daugherty — is apparently not only a brutish jerk but also abuses her!

When Edward tries to intervene the cop brushes him off as the lonely dork that he seems to be, but when he doesn’t heed the warnings to stay away from Miss Kringle, Gotham’s favorite lab technician/forensics expert takes action.

He waits outside of Miss Kringle’s apartment and when Daugherty shows up later that night, he tells him to leave Gotham right now or pay the consequences. Needless to say, Daugherty laughs in his face under Edward pulls a knife and stabs him to death in the middle of the street. Nygma is both frightened and exhilarated by the feeling of taking someone else’s life.

It’s taken almost an entire season and a whole lot of bad jokes, but The Riddler is finally starting to come to life at least in some small way.

A Mother’s Son

While we haven’t seen Carmine Falcone for what seems like ages, Oswald Cobblepot has continued to build his own criminal empire and now he’s ready to take things to the next level by assassinating Salvatore Maroni thus eliminating Gotham’s other mafia boss. Oswald hires his hitman and start to put things in motion to have Maroni eliminated when he gets some bad news — Sal is in his club and he’s sitting at the same table as Oswald’s mother.

When Oswald arrives, Sal is being as sweet as apple pie to Mother Cobblepot, but before he exits he decides to let the doting mother know what her son has really been up to these past few months. He proclaims that Oswald is a murderer, a liar, a crook and a straight up gangster and that’s how he’s finding success in Gotham.

Oswald’s mother is crushed and even after he takes her home while explaining that Maroni was not being truthful, he’s more determined than ever before to put the mob leader down. Even when a random delivery man shows up to give Mrs. Cobblepot some flowers from Maroni as an apology, Oswald snaps, kills him with a shard of broken glass and proclaims that Gotham’s other mob boss has to go. Like right now.

The One I Love

Gordon spends the majority of this episode worried about what The Ogre might do to Leslie Thompkins if he can’t catch him in time, but in the process he forgets about the woman he was in a relationship with for months before the good doctor appeared in his life.

It seems The Ogre is targeting Barbara Keen as payback for Gordon’s investigation and he’s determined to make her the next victim.

The Ogre nearly kills her on their first date, but decides against it after a last second impulse. Instead, he meets Barbara at the Wayne Foundation charity function where he flirts and says all the right things — including some sympathy when Barbara tells him that no man could love her, especially not after they finally see what she’s really like on the inside. Funny enough these are the same things The Ogre has been saying to women for years.

Has he finally met his match?

The Ogre seduces Barbara and takes her back to his condo and when she gets inquisitive about a particular room, he tells his new house guest to please take a look. When she gets inside and turns on the lights she sees something that looks like Larry Flynt’s playroom combined with Medieval torture chamber. And strangely, Barbara isn’t frightened — instead she smiles and looks absolutely delighted to be surrounded by axes and sex swings. Maybe these two are meant to be together. Hey at least it gives Barbara something to do that is at least mildly interesting for once!

At the same time this is happening, Jim has got his man it’s just a matter of finding him but he realizes while in the middle of his investigation something The Ogre said to him when he called the station earlier to give him a rather ominous threat — he called Jim a rising star in the GCPD. Gordon remembers that was a headline from a newspaper story about him from a few months ago and the person who was next to him in the picture — Barbara.

Jim now knows that The Ogre was never going after Leslie, but instead has eyes on his ex and he has no clue where this psychopath is hiding.

Only two episodes left to go in the first season of ‘Gotham’ kids — will Gordon get his man and safe his ex-girlfriend in time? Tune into ‘Gotham’ next week at 9pm ET to find out.